Just had two good days sailing freeride on Carve 99 2004 board , 60cm wide ,
Love this board for its all round great freeride use . The thing about it is it is
great to gybe and ride due to not being too wide.
Have tried other s boards at 70cm wide that just dont " feel "
zippy and as exciting .
so when is wide too wide ? .
On a high volume board for early planing fair enough .
But are manufactures making all boards just very user friendly
to sell more boards to advancing beginners and lower skilled sailers ? . ,
Lower volume used to mean advancing technique 
I have a 130 litre board at 66cm wide wich seems plenty wide enough .
But I see a 100 litre freeride board is around 65 cm .
So when is wide too wide ? , enuf is enuff ....
Is this the board with the two small concave channels on either side of the nose
Had some great offshore open water blasting on the 99 carve with 5.7 wave rig lit. Rides up wind like a rocket sweet all round fun for 12 to 18 plus knots
The only thing you had to watch was the nose bogging a bit when blasting right of the wind in heavy swells with chop on them with those channels
Bloody freestylers experimenting
As for your question never under estimate the performance of a wide whale
Select to expand quoteking of the point said...
Is this the board with the two small concave channels on either side of the nose
Had some great offshore open water blasting on the 99 carve with 5.7 wave rig lit. Rides up wind like a rocket sweet all round fun for 12 to 18 plus knots
The only thing you had to watch was the nose bogging a bit when blasting right of the wind in heavy swells with chop on them with those channels
Bloody freestylers experimenting
As for your question never under estimate the performance of a wide whale
[/quote
Downwind those channels certainly make a bit of a nose dive .
Yes wide is good in a straight line , but why so wide , doing the two step
shuffle in a gybe ?
I think you are right Essedon....
Being a beginner myself, I think these days it is much easier to find an entry level board (i.e. wide with large volume) from each of the main brands. I think it is to help with making the sport of wind-surfing more appealing and more accessible for all.
(not sure if you are a snow skier) Similar trends are seen in other sports too. Snow ski's used to be commonly >200cm long, clumsy, and very hard to use except for the skilled and the seasoned. But now, that trend has changed and the skis are now commonly 150cm-170cm, making it very easy for beginners to learn and enjoy the sport.
It is about improving access and making the sport actually more enjoyable.......(and not discouragingly frustrating)
I think it is a good thing for windsurfing.
i imagine trends are based on sales
how else can your opinion go to the manufacturer ?
you are riding a 2004 and i am riding a 2000 BEE LTD
my board was considered one of the wide boards of the day at 63 cm
now 124 liter boards are 70 cm and more
i repeat my question:
how can windsurfers tell manufacturers what works for them ??
AND manufacturers do need to make versions that work for newbies
personally hope hybrids , SUPs and longboards get people back into the sport
like back in the heyday !!!
i am using a 2002 BIC Techno Formula for light winds
many manufacturers are just now starting to make similiar boards for light winds
wide is good for light/mid winds and flatter water
narrow is much better for higher winds and chop ie more experienced riders
Long time reader but new to the forum as a poster. It's the the Ferris wheel of design! Just like sails, if you've been around long enough, all this stuff has been done before. Longer/Narrower, Shorter/Wider. Wide point forward, wide point back. They all work. It all boils down to what works for you. Everybody's different and has different sailing conditions.
You ride the width and slog the volume
Wider boards are better suited to beginners for flotation and ease of uphauling, also while learning to water start.
It is good to see manufactures making boards available for newbies as that is what will keep the sport going into the future. If the boards were all narrow and sinkers there would be minimal amount of people be willing to try the different aspects of the sport.
So when is wide to wide?
When you become experienced enough to go narrow.
ive got two boards, both about 120l, a mistral syncro from 09, and recently picked up a mid 90's mistral explosion for $40.. the syncro is, i think. 67cm wide, the explosion 58 cm.
i though i liked the syncro, until i rode the old board..its faster, smoother and does these great planing high speed arcing jibes..cuts right through the chop, and honestly, i dont think it loses much on the bottom end, if you know how to pump onto a plane.
the syncro does turn much faster, but i always have trouble doing a planing jibe on it..
and it does work much better as a lightwind wave board than the older board.
but is one better than the other?
nah..they just do different things.. depends what you want it to do.
mostly fashion and trend.
but, too bad the manufacturers have taken away the choice of longer narrower boards.
personally, id be looking for a good used board now, rather than spend the cash on a new stubby one.
and, the older boards work fine with newer sails.
When is wide too wide?
When you want to go faster, and when the platform is so stable there is no challenge any more.
or when it cannot handle chop :)
or when you have to stamp on the other side to gybe/jibe :)
Every new board these days. bring back the 100lt boards that are less
than 60cm wide. I carnt see how wider is better unless u sail in 10 15kts.
I just got a 85lt slalom that is wider than me 98lt & its no ware near as
fun or controlable to ride.
Width is a kind of funny measure when you start comparing new (2010) with the old boards (1999) - the mast step position has changed so the lenght of the boom is now different ( why was the mast step so far forward??) .
In the old days the MAX width of the board used to be around or often infront of the mast step - now often the max width is behind the mast step and the width of the board measured 30cm from the back of the board is way wider.
Whats too wide ? when it becomes uncomfortable its too wide!! so as you said for the conditions 70cm was just not nice - its always tough to pick the right gear for the conditions but thats also why when I 'pole danced' I had 4 boards and heaps of sails - trying to find the sweet spot 'of the tennis racket' on every session.
Wide boards are easy to ride but quickly become a handful in high winds and choppy conditions - so when is wide too wide ?? When it becomes a crap session and only you can judge that!!
